100,000 have fled to Rafah in recent days, UN says
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has told the BBC that it estimates that at least 100,000 people have moved into Rafah, the most southerly city in Gaza, in the last few days as fighting has intensified in and around Khan Younis and elsewhere.
The displacement follows orders from Israeli forces urging civilians to flee parts of Gaza where Israel says Hamas has a stronghold.
The OCHA says the influx of people has made overcrowding worse and put pressure on limited resources.
Speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza, the director of UNRWA, the UN’s relief agency, Tom White told the BBC there are “well over a million people” seeking safety in the city.
As a consequence of overcrowding, White said thousands of people are sleeping outside “under flimsy pieces of plastic”.
Key events
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has transferred more than five injured Palestinians after an Israeli strike hit a house in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, the PRCS said on Saturday.
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Tel Aviv, where hundreds of anti-government protestors gathered on Saturday night to demand the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza:
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Nentanyahu, said that the border zone between the Gaza strip and Egypt should be under Israel’s control.
During a press conference on Saturday, Netanyahu said, “The Philadelphi corridor – or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point [of Gaza] – must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek,” Reuters reports.
He went on to threaten to attack Iran directly over the exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border, saying, “If Hezbollah expands the warfare, it will suffer blows that it has not dreamed of – and so too Iran.”
With more than 21,600 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since 7 October, Israel forces have expanded their ground operations across the strip, where more than 1.9 million surviving Palestinians have been displaced as a result.
The Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison reports:
Israeli planes bombed refugee camps in Gaza on Saturday as troops expanded ground operations and tens of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes, setting the stage for a new year as bloody and destructive as the last three months of 2023.
The threat of wider escalation also looms large over the region, as skirmishes on the northern boundary with Lebanon intensify, and Israeli officials have hinted that the “diplomatic hourglass” is running out to reach a negotiated solution.
For now there seems little hope of even a temporary break in attacks, even after Egypt hosted leaders for talks this week and pushed plans for a staged break in the war.
A senior Hamas official told AP on Saturday they are firm in their position that there will be no hostage releases without a permanent ceasefire. Israel will not accept ending a war its leaders describe as existential and “without limit”.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Hamas must be destroyed after the brutal attacks of 7 October, when gunmen broke into Israel and murdered 1,200 people, the majority civilians.
The scale of death and suffering inside Gaza has isolated Israel internationally, with even allies like the UK now calling for a “sustainable ceasefire”. More than 21,600 people have been killed in Gaza, the majority women and children, and thousands more buried under the rubble, health authorities in the Hamas-run strip say.
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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Saturday that Israel was “fighting on all fronts” in a war which he said would last many more months until victory is achieved, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu’s address came as Israel entered its 13th week of war on Gaza during which it has killed over 21,500 Palestinians in what it has declared as its fight against Hamas.
In a new tweet ahead of the new year, the World Food Programme warned that “there is a different kind of countdown in Gaza”, pointing to an impending famine across the strip as a result of Israel’s attacks.
“We are racing against time to avert a complete collapse of even the most basic services and starvation for millions,” the WFP said.
“Only a long-term ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access can end this,” it added.
As we count down to a new year, there is a different kind of countdown in #Gaza.
We are racing against time to avert a complete collapse of even the most basic services and starvation for millions.
Only a long-term ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access can end this. pic.twitter.com/AU7EPHTAyn
— World Food Programme (@WFP) December 30, 2023
Palestinian health ministry: Israeli forces kill 22-year-old Palestinian in West Bank
Israeli forces have shot and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian man in the West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry announced.
The 22-year old man, identified by Palestinian news agency WAFA as Mohammad Hussein Masalma, was killed by Israeli forces who fired live ammunition at the entrance of the al-Fawwar refugee camp in the south of Hebron, WAFA reports.
It added that Israeli forces stationed at the entrance of the refugee camp opened fire intensively at Masalma, who was inside his vehicle, in turn leaving him severely wounded and bleeding. He was then rushed to a hospital in critical condition but died as a result of his wounds inflicted by Israeli forces.
Agence France-Presse reports that one of its journalists saw Israeli forces surround a vehicle with soldiers and military vehicles deployed in the area. The Israeli military said that its soldiers “neutralized” the driver, whom it accused of ramming the car into a military post.
On Thursday, the UN called on Israel to end its use of “unnecessary or disproportionate force and unlawful killings” in the West Bank. Earlier this month, Medecins Sans Frontieres reported that for Palestinians in the West Bank, 2023 was the deadliest year on record due to Israeli military attacks and extremist settler violence.
Palestine’s ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has hailed South Africa’s decision to launch a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice in which it accused Israel of carrying out “genocidal” acts in Gaza.
In a tweet on Saturday, Zomlot wrote:
Justice must be served and the #genocide must stop.
South Africa’s decision comes as Israeli strikes have killed more than 21,500 Palestinians since 7 October.
In November, a group of independent UN human rights experts warned that “grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians … point to a genocide in the making”.
The Palestinian Liberation Front’s armed wing announced on Saturday that an Israeli soldier it was holding captive had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, which also injured some of his captors, Reuters reports.
According to an audio speech broadcast by Al Araby television, an Abu Ali Mustafa brigades spokesperson said that the Israeli airstrike occurred after a failed attempt by Israeli forces to rescue the soldier.
The spokesperson gave no details of when the soldier had been taken captive, or where he had been held in Gaza.
Israel targeted Aleppo with an airstrike on Saturday, causing material damage, the Syrian defense ministry said in a statement, Reuters reports.
“Israel carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting a number of points south of the city of Aleppo,” the statement said.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment.
UNRWA: 40% of Gaza’s population at risk of famine
40% of Gaza’s population is at risk of famine, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said on Saturday.
“Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and water,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added.
📍#Gaza is grappling with catastrophic hunger. 40% of the population are now at risk of famine.
Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and water.
We need regular supplies and safe + sustainable humanitarian access across the #GazaStrip https://t.co/gdG1hsxIdS
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 30, 2023
As millions of Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes face shortages in food, water and medical supplies, the UN “strongly condemned” reports on Saturday that Israeli troops opened fire on an aid convoy in the strip on Thursday.
A UN-backed report published earlier this month found that Gaza’s entire 2.3 million population is facing crisis levels of hunger as Israel continues its deadly strikes across the strip which have already killed over 21,500 Palestinians.
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments of the day so far:
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The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has told the BBC that it estimates that at least 100,000 people have moved into Rafah, the most southerly city in Gaza, in the last few days as fighting has intensified in and around Khan Younis and elsewhere. The displacement follows orders from Israeli forces urging civilians to flee parts of Gaza where Israel says Hamas has a stronghold.
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Fierce Israeli tank fire and aerial bombing struck Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Friday night, residents said, after more than 200 people were reported killed in 24 hours in Israel’s campaign against Hamas militants. Reuters reports that planes also carried out a series of airstrikes on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, according to medics and Palestinian journalists.
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Israeli warplanes struck two urban refugee camps in central Gaza on Saturday. Residents in the urban refugee camps of Nuseirat and Bureij, two recent hotspots of combat, reported Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday.
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A total of 21,672 Palestinians have been killed and 56,165 have been wounded in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday. The figures include 165 Palestinians killed and 250 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
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Juliette Touma from the UN aid agency UNRWA told the BBC “the humanitarian needs on the ground have continued to massively grow”. She said: “Nowhere is safe in Gaza, not the north, not the middle and not the south.”
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A Palestinian journalist working for Al-Quds TV was killed along with some of his family members in an airstrike on their house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip, health officials and fellow journalists said. The government media office of Hamas-run Gaza says 106 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the Israeli offensive.
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One person has been injured at an Israeli military post in the West Bank, in a suspected ramming attack, according to reports. The driver was shot at before being detained by Israeli forces, the Jerusalem Post reports.
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South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel responded to the allegations “with disgust”, calling South Africa’s case a “blood libel” and urging the ICJ to reject it. Any case at the ICJ is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to issue “provisional measures” calling for a ceasefire.
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The UN’s top aid official has “strongly condemned” reports that Israeli troops opened fire on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip. The director of UNRWA earlier on Friday accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy on Thursday as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army. Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said the convoy was fired upon despite being “clearly marked”, adding: “Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful.”
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The Biden administration has again bypassed congressional review for weapons sale to Israel. The US state department said the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, informed Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5m sale for equipment required to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function.
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The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said he was “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases facing Gaza’s people. Nearly 180,000 people were suffering upper respiratory infections and about 136,400 cases of diarrhoea – half among children under five – had been recorded since mid-October, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post.
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The IDF said it located and destroyed a hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza. An investigation by IDF troops found the apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, as well as a large tunnel system under it which was part of a network used by senior Hamas members, an IDF spokesperson said.
One person has been injured at an Israeli military post in the West Bank, in a suspected ramming attack, according to reports.
The driver was shot at before being detained by Israeli forces, the Jerusalem Post reports.
The incident happened at the Beit Hagai intersection near Hebron on Saturday, the newspaper said.
A similar incident on Friday left five Israeli soldiers injured – including one seriously – close to the entrance to the Palestinian village of Aboud near Hebron, the Post said.
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Gaza.
100,000 have fled to Rafah in recent days, UN says
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has told the BBC that it estimates that at least 100,000 people have moved into Rafah, the most southerly city in Gaza, in the last few days as fighting has intensified in and around Khan Younis and elsewhere.
The displacement follows orders from Israeli forces urging civilians to flee parts of Gaza where Israel says Hamas has a stronghold.
The OCHA says the influx of people has made overcrowding worse and put pressure on limited resources.
Speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza, the director of UNRWA, the UN’s relief agency, Tom White told the BBC there are “well over a million people” seeking safety in the city.
As a consequence of overcrowding, White said thousands of people are sleeping outside “under flimsy pieces of plastic”.
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments of the day so far:
-
Fierce Israeli tank fire and aerial bombing struck Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Friday night, residents said, after more than 200 people were reported killed in 24 hours in Israel’s campaign against Hamas militants. Reuters reports that planes also carried out a series of airstrikes on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, according to medics and Palestinian journalists.
-
Israeli warplanes struck two urban refugee camps in central Gaza on Saturday. Residents in the urban refugee camps of Nuseirat and Bureij, two recent hotspots of combat, reported Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday.
-
A total of 21,672 Palestinians have been killed and 56,165 have been wounded in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday. The figures include 165 Palestinians killed and 250 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
-
Juliette Touma from the UN aid agency UNRWA told the BBC “the humanitarian needs on the ground have continued to massively grow”. She said: “Nowhere is safe in Gaza, not the north, not the middle and not the south.”
-
A Palestinian journalist working for Al-Quds TV was killed along with some of his family members in an airstrike on their house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip, health officials and fellow journalists said. The government media office of Hamas-run Gaza says 106 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the Israeli offensive.
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South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel responded to the allegations “with disgust”, calling South Africa’s case a “blood libel” and urging the ICJ to reject it. Any case at the ICJ is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to issue “provisional measures” calling for a ceasefire.
-
The UN’s top aid official has “strongly condemned” reports that Israeli troops opened fire on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip. The director of UNRWA earlier on Friday accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy on Thursday as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army. Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said the convoy was fired upon despite being “clearly marked”, adding: “Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful.”
-
The Biden administration has again bypassed congressional review for weapons sale to Israel. The US state department said the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, informed Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5m sale for equipment required to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function.
-
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said he was “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases facing Gaza’s people. Nearly 180,00 people were suffering upper respiratory infections and about 136,400 cases of diarrhoea – half among children under five – had been recorded since mid-October, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post.
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The IDF said it located and destroyed a hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza. An investigation by IDF troops found the apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, as well as a large tunnel system under it which was part of a network used by senior Hamas members, an IDF spokesperson said.